406 



MODERN EGYPT. 



These two Coptic women, particularly the sister of the lady of the 

 house, were the prettiest I had seen in Egypt. The sister was 

 remarkably fair, and would have been reckoned handsome in any 

 country. She was older than she appeared to be ; and I was 

 surprised to find that she had a son then in the room fourteen years 

 of age ; but marriages are made at a very early time of life in this 

 country. The costume of these women was similar to that I have 

 already described, as worn by the Levantines, differing only in the 

 ornaments and jewelry. 



In Egypt the unhappy Israelites, bearing with the Christians the 

 undisguised scorn and contempt of all ranks of Moslems, drag out 

 a miserable existence. Possessing an active and cunning mind, they 

 contrive in many instances to over-reach their Mahometan masters ; 

 and derive their means of living from the business of money-changers 

 and brokers. They are easily distinguished both from the Copt and 

 Arab by their prominent nose and chin, and by being darker than the 

 Copt, but not so dark as the Arab. 



The Copts and Jews are the general shop-keepers in Egypt ; and in 

 the part called the Frank town of Alexandria there is a considerable 

 number of shops, in which cutlery of a very inferior quality, and 

 woollen and linen drapery of various kinds are offered for sale. The 

 muslin in these shops was very coarse. The woollen cloth was prin- 

 cipally of German manufacture, of a thin though tolerably fine texture, 

 narrower than English cloth, and much cheaper than the latter. Of 

 this cloth, which is of various colours, the most esteemed being green 

 and flesh coloured, there are many hundred bales sold annually in 

 Cairo. There is another sort, a red cloth of a stronger manufacture, 

 of which the Mamelukes make their trowsers, and this also is German. 

 In the cloths and linens of that country there was formerly a con- 

 siderable trade carried on between Venice and Trieste, and Alexan- 

 dria, the returns being in gums, senna, corn, and rice. 



